The present invention relates to a method for coupling a jacket with a foundation pile, and a coupling system for temporarily coupling a jacket with a foundation pile.
A jacket is a steel structure placed on the seabed for supporting another structure like a platform or windmill. One or more foundation piles have been installed in a, usually, vertical stance in a body of ground, like the bottom of the sea. To level the platform there is a need to adjust one or more corners of a jacket in height. Therefore the jacket is initially movable with respect to a foundation pile. When placing offshore jackets on pre-installed foundation piles, a temporary connection needs to be made which allows for curing of a grout connection between the jacket legs and the foundation piles.
WO2012053892 discloses a clamping device for temporarily coupling a sleeve of a jacket with a pile accommodated in said sleeve. The clamping device is used during offshore installation of a jacket. The clamping device comprises a number of clamping shoes for engagement with the pile such that the pile is coupled within the sleeve, a frame for arranging said number of clamping shoes around the pile, wherein the clamping shoes are moveable between a first position for accommodating said pile in said sleeve and a second position for coupling the pile with said sleeve, an actuating system operationally coupled with the frame and the number of clamping shoes for driving the clamping shoes from the first position to the second position, wherein the actuating system comprises a single actuator operationally coupled with two or more clamping shoes. After the jacket has been positioned, the clamping device couples the pile with the sleeve for temporarily maintaining the position of the jacket. Subsequently, the sleeve and the pile are fixedly coupled in a known manner by means of grout. When the grout is cured, said grout couples the pile and the sleeve for supporting the platform. This known clamping device assumes that the foundation piles are positioned such that leveling of the jacket is not required, or done otherwise.
From GB2006910A it is known to connect pile members by mortar contained in a gap between the pile members and a sleeve. The mortar is contained in the gap by use of inflated tubular seals. In GB2006910A there is no adjustment of the mutual position of the pile members.
GB 1 544 842 A relates to a jacking assembly for moving a load in steps. The assembly has two parts adapted to be slidably mounted at axially spaced positions on the elongate member; and pawl devices mounted on each of said parts and engageable with the elongate member in a way which permits relative axial movement. Therefore, GB 1 544 842 does not deal with coupling of flanges of foundation piles and a jacket.
CN103437372 relates to a grout coupling and has for its purpose to overcome the shortcomings of traditional offshore platform grouting process. Therefore, CN103437372 proposes a procedure for filling a grout cavity. CN103437372 does not suggest to adjust any height position after the foundation pile jacket and subsea connection structure contact.